Read on Twitter
Similar to Baltimore, the police in Minneapolis will make it clear that looting and widespread private property destruction will be tolerated for the remainder of the protests as a way to conflate protesters and looters and "teach a lesson to" their liberal civilian bosses
This is "thin blue line" ideology - "lift the unaccountable brutality from the black community and watch as these savages overrun you weak and naive liberals"
NYPD attempted this with an unofficial work slowdown under De Blasio but it hilariously didn't work despite promotion from the city's conservatives.
But like UPS's union who set their contract to expire right Xmas shopping, cops know a breakdown in order is a leverage point
But like UPS's union who set their contract to expire right Xmas shopping, cops know a breakdown in order is a leverage point
The infamous CVS in Baltimore: police *let* it burn down. They set up their barricades a block *behind* the Fire Department's and allowed the FD's hose to be cut because it fit the police leadership's goals to see the CVS burn down on live TV
It's essentially impossible for a major metropolitan police department to be "forced to retreat" in a military sense, especially against motley groups of rock-throwing protesters. If they surrender territory to be looted and burned, it's a choice.
The gap in training, equipment and organization is just insanely insurmountable for even large groups of protesters to overcome. And I'm just talking about "cops with shields and batons" this is before you even bring in SWAT teams and riot cops and the military surplus gear.
In rare situations where cops are legitimately "forced to retreat" it's something like the ATF Raid on the Branch Davidians - against paramilitary groups with small arms in a defensible position. and the inevitable result is the cops just come back with tanks and helicopters.
it's not at all necessary to excoriate the looters for committing legitimately unimportant and petty amounts of property crime to observe that the looting as a phenomenon happens because the police feel its in their best interest to allow it to. https://twitter.com/oshaghenessy21/status/1265887543473704961
similar to baltimore, the looters are like, at most several dozen people. maybe a few hundred? in a major metro area with millions of residents. of course if you broadcast a breakdown in order, some people will take advantage of it. so fucking what?
i legitimately have no fucking idea what the point of public pleas to stop doing an activity that 99.8% of the public is not in any way participating in are supposed to accomplish.
